AMHERST, N.Y. - Senior guard Demetre Roberts scored 17 of his team-high 28 points after halftime to lead the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team to a 75-70 victory over Daemen College in overtime tonight at Lumsden Gymnasium on the Daemen Campus.

Both teams are now tied atop the East Coast Conference standings with just one week left in the regular season. Daemen saw its 12 game winning streak come to an end and dropped to 17-7 overall and 14-1 in the ECC. Daemen's 12 game winning streak was the longest among all NCAA Division II East Region teams. STAC improved to 21-4 overall and 14-1 in the league following its ninth-straight victory.

Both teams entered the game ranked regionally and nationally. Daemen is ranked third in the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region media poll and 24th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top-25 poll. STAC is ranked second in the D2SIDA regional poll and 21st in the D2SIDA national poll.

Daemen held a 10-2 lead five minutes into the game, but the Spartans outscored the Wildcats 11-3 over the next six minutes and the game was tied 13-13 with eight minutes left before halftime. Daemen took a 20-17 lead following bucket by Sischo with four minutes left in the half, but the Spartans closed the half with a 10-4 run and the visitors took a 27-24 lead into the break.

The Spartans opened up a five point lead, 38-33, following a driving layup by Roberts seven minutes into the second half, but Daemen answered with a conventional three-point play by junior Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and a long jumper by graduate student Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) to knot the game at 38-38. STAC would take a 50-45 lead following a dunk by junior Jerrel Kelly with just under seven minutes left in regulation, but the Wildcats answered yet again and tied the game at 50-50 after Sischo made two free throws with 6:10 to play. Neither team led by more than three points over the final six minutes of regulation. Two free throws by Roberts gave the Spartans a 56-53 lead with 2:26 left, before Daemen got a layup from graduate student Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) to make it a one point game. STAC came up empty on its next possession and Sischo gave the hosts a 57-56 lead after he made two free throws with 11 seconds left in regulation. Sischo then blocked an attempt by Roberts at the other end, but the rebound went out of bounds and STAC had possession with five seconds left. Roberts was fouled while driving to the hoop and made one of two free throws with two seconds left to force overtime.

Fasoyiro gave Daemen a 62-61 lead with 3:30 left in OT, but Roberts answered with a jumper at the other end and the Spartans never trailed after that. The STAC lead was 68-64 when Kelly blocked a layup attempt by Sischo and then senior Grant Singleton made two free throws with 1:01 left to give the Spartans a 70-64 lead. Sischo scored with 53 seconds left, but STAC made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Roberts scored eight of STAC's 18 points in OT and finished with 28 points, three rebounds and two steals.
• Singleton added 13 points and six rebounds.
• Sischo led the Wildcats with 31 points and 11 rebounds—en route to his NCAA Division II-leading 20th double-double of the year. He connected on 11-of-21 shots and made 9-of-12 from the charity stripe. He has scored 10+ points in 89 of his last 90 games and in 121 games total for his career.
• Salzberg added 16 points, four assists and three rebounds, while Fasoyiro chipped in 13 points, eight boards and four assists.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen returns 11 players, including all five starters, from their 2020-21 team that won the NCAA Division II East Region Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight.
• Daemen shot just 29-percent (10-for-34) in the first half and finished a season-low 36-percent (24-for-66) from the field overall. The Wildcats shot a season-low 14-percent (4-of-29) from three point land. Daemen had made 14 three-pointers in each of its last three games.
• STAC was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and made 10-of-12 free throws in OT. The Spartans shot 43-percent (27-for-63) from the field overall and made 18 of 24 free throws. The Spartans attempted 16 three-pointers and made just three.
• STAC finished with an advantage in points off turnovers (12-4), bench points (27-3), points in the paint (40-34) and fast break points (24-12).
• STAC posted its first win at Lumsden Gymnasium since the 2017-18 season. The teams have met 14 times since the 2017-18 season and STAC owns an 8-6 advantage in those games.
• Daemen's last OT game was an 84-81 win at STAC last year.
• A two-time consensus All-American and three-time ECC Player of the Year, Sischo was recently named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List. He is NCAA Division II's active leader in career points (2,758), rebounds (1,422) and double-doubles (80). He is the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Daemen and ECC history, as well as the all-time leading scorer among all NCAA men's basketball programs in the state of New York. During a win at Bridgeport earlier this year he became only the 19th player in NCAA Division II history to reach 2,700 career points. Sischo ranks 19th in career points and sixth in career rebounds all-time in Division II.
• It was the sixth time this season and 21st time over his career Sischo has scored 30 or more points in a game.
• Tonight's game marked the 128th of Sischo's career. He is one of only two players to appear in that many contests for Daemen and is just two more appearances away from becoming the program's all-time leader in games played.  
• Fasoyiro scored his 1,000th career point last week during a win over D'Youville. He totaled 494 points during his three seasons at Franklin Pierce and has netted 526 points in 40 games at Daemen (13.2 ppg). Daemen is now 27-13 with Fasoyiro in the starting lineup.

NEXT JUMP BALL

The Wildcats return to action Sunday (Feb. 20) when they host Mercy College in an ECC game. It will mark the final home game of the regular season for Daemen and five players will be recognized as part of the program's Senior Day celebration before the game.

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen College men's basketball program on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @DaemenMBB.